Although this was book number 18 in the series this book can be read as a stand alone.  

This was an easy read about a small village in Fetherington and two elderly sleuths who find themselves trying to solve a murder.  The characters were all quite endearing and I could picture them in their cosy homes trying to piece together the witness statements in order to try and clear one of their names from the list of prime suspects.

Reading this book was likened, in my opinion, to watching an episode of 'Midsomer Murders'.  It was a pleasant read, humorous in places and one you didn't have to think too hard about.

thanks to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to review this book.
A delightful and quick read with easy to understand people. People without too much flowery words but enough twist and turns to be interesting.. Well done to this author.

This book in most enjoyable, i would recommend this book, Jude and Carole make a good pair of amateur sleuths

Simon Brett’s “The Liar in the Library” is best considered a classic mystery where sleuthing is an art pursued by avid detectives with search dog eagerness.  The dogs here are a couple of disparate women who spend a lot of time bickering and trash talking each other.

Jude is a free spirited “healer” with a colorful background as a model, actress, and restaurateur who can fend off wandering hands with either aplomb or force, if necessary.  Her next-door neighbor, Carole, is a stable retired civil servant who is disapproving of some of Jude’s methods, but together they form a sleuthing team that is uncannily successful.

Jude gets tangled up with a writer acquaintance of some twenty years prior and, after a book signing and lecture, accepts a ride home.  Before they even leave the parking lot, the writer gropes her, she caresses his cheek with a stinging slap, and walks home in a driving rainstorm.  The police who have her as their prime suspect, being the last person to see him, soon contact her.  

Jude calls on Carole and together they begin the search for answers to the many questions that accompany the author’s well laid out story.  Who were all the people at the book signing, particularly the odd ones?  The familiar props of an old fashioned British crime story; a country house, a library, a church service, and, of course, the possible introduction of poison to the author’s drink, are all used by Simon Brett to great effect.  It is a puzzle with all the pieces laid out for the reader, also typical for this type of old-school novel.

I found the story to be intriguing and the author’s architecture well thought out and constructed.  I heartily recommend this book to provide a return to the style of novel most avid readers relish.  If it grows on you, Simon Brett has written some eighteen others of the same ilk.

Carol and Jude get involved in another murder mystery in Fetherington, but this time, Jude is the last person known to have been with the victim and thus is the police's main suspect. As number one suspect, Jude is warned off investigating by the police, so Carol swings into action on her own. Like the other Fetherington mysteries, this is a solid English cosy mystery. Jude and Carol are caricatures of middle aged women--one uptight, one free-spirited--but their friendship rings true, with respect for each others's quirks tinged by occasional jealousy and impatience. Well written, as all Brett's mysteries are, and while I figured out the whodunnit, an enjoyable summer read.

Cosy crime , just perfect for a night by the fire with a glass of something lovely. It is apparently part of a long running series however I think it stands up ok on its own. 

Funny and charming characters (Jude and Carole in particular) - a light hearted tale that anyone would enjoy

An easy read! Enjoyable and light but hardly taxing on the old brain cells with it not being too difficult to work out the culprit quite early on. 
All this does not make it a poor book merely one that will not linger long in the memory.
My thanks to NetGalley and Blackthorn for the chance to read and provide an unbiased review.

I had never seen the term "cozy mystery" until I read some reviews for this book.  And now with that understanding I would say this is a good example of the genre.  I had a very difficult time getting into the story and probably would have stopped early on except I had been given an ARC and felt obligated to complete the book so I could write the review.  This series has a lot of books so clearly it has a good following and maybe I just need to try a different title.

Amusing whodunit that is entertaining and light.  The main characters are all old friends who have solved many crimes before in Fethering and this new one, the sudden death of a writer from a sever allergy, is no exception.  There is humour and up to date social comment but overall it is a light, quick read.

The story begins with a guest lecturer, Al Sinclair who has written a best selling novel, being invited to a local library to talk about not only about his book, but also on how to develop and write a novel.  In attendance are a variety of people, whom we soon find out that some of them have personal grudges or don't like his writing style.  Among the guests is an old friend of his by the name of Jude.  Jude is the main character of the novel and this series of mysteries is known as the Feathering series.

Al Sinclair is found murdered in his vehicle, still parked in the library parking lot, the following morning.  Jude is the prime suspect, since she was the last to see Sinclair alive.  He'd offered her a ride home because of the rain and she reluctantly agreed.  Al was known for his womanizing and he made a pass at Jude, who fled the car in disgust.

Jude sets out with her neighbor, Carol who also likes to solve mysteries and two of them begin immediately in hopes of clearing Jude's name and discovering the true killer.

The plot is well conceived and tightly constructed.  There are a few plot twists, which alter the path to identifying the killer and there insertion does not disrupt the flow of the story, but actually enhances it along the way.  The characters are richly established with their own imperfections and suspicions and are written in a way, which are relevant and vital to the story line.

The book is well-paced and well written.  The author sprinkles about clues and hints here and there and allows the reader to absorb them and remain focused on the story.  This allows the reader to draw their own conclusions, which are parallel to the author's intention, which is not always an easy task for an author to maintain.

This is my first novel by Simon Brett and I look forward to future reading of his other novels.  This is the 18th novel in the series and this novel can easily stand alone by itself.  He has a flair and style for the modern mystery writer, which sets him apart from your typical mystery writer.  I highly recommend this novel.

I want to thank Black Thorn and Net Galley for providing me with an advance copy to read.

When I signed up to read this little mystery, I wasn't aware that it was #18 in a series! It was a book that was able to stand on its own and did not require reading of the previous books in the series. While I love a good whodunnit mystery, I found myself a bit frustrated with many of the characters in the novel. They made silly choices (Jude in particular) and they often acted childishly or ridiculously. The mystery itself was not bad - someone murdered an author after his talk at a local library - and all signs point to Jude! In order to keep herself out of jail for a crime she did not commit, she's going to have to put her sleuthing hat on and figure out who DID kill Burton St Clair... I enjoyed the nod to the mystery novels of old and the way the story wrapped up, but I'm not sure I'll be taking the time to read the other stories in the series.

This has some decent cozy mystery elements: Good pacing, decent setting, and some humor (though most of the jokes are whiffs). 

Unfortunately, that’s all the positives I have for this. The plot was certainly a clever idea, but the villain is too obvious and the solve takes a very dark, serious turn that doesn’t match the tone of the rest of the book. And the murder by anaphylactic shock thing has been done to death by other cozy mysteries before this one. 

I try not to hold cozy mysteries to the same standards I would a procedural or a suspense thriller, but this one misses the mark even by sub-genre standards. 

The book isn’t awful and I don’t feel sorry I read it, but between the annoying stock characters, the absurdist bungling cops, and the crummy solve, this one didn’t work for me.

Classic British mystery. Started out well with good character development but story line and characters started to lose steam near the end. Still an enjoyable read overall.

The Liar in the Library by Simon Brett has an author give a talk at a library, and then wind up dead, which leads to two local women investigating his murder.

This is actually number 18 in the series set in the same little Sussex town, but there wasn't anything to put off you reading it if you haven't read the other books!  I didn't see any in-jokes, or references to things that had happened before that I couldn't understand.

It's a cosy crime, which means it's quite light, without too much danger for our heroines, and is a quick read.

Funnily enough, Simon Brett came to talk at Portsmouth MysteryFest, where he performed a 45 minute monologue called 'Lines of Enquiry', and so reading the beginning of this book reminded me very much of that event!

The Liar in the Library was published on 6th June 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Blackthorn (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

An author is murdered after giving a talk about his latest book at a village library . One of the people there is an old friend(Jude) of his and his ex-wife , who becomes a prime suspect.. He has since married a much younger wife who he keeps in a lavish lifestyle , which he can afford due to recent book successes .  His ex-wife accuses Jude of having an affair with him which is why her marriage broke down , this is untrue but she has also told the police this which does not help Jude's case . Jude with her neighbour Carole have a reputation of being amateur sleuths from previous cases . They need to find out who has committed this murder to ensure Jude is cleared . there are a number of suspects who the pair have to follow up and this is treated well with further leads opening up as they investigate . All in all a good story set in a seaside village with all the tittle tattle and prejudices that happens around the area well described ..

The Liar in the Library is book number 18 in an amateur sleuth series set in small town Fethering England. The main character is Jude a local healer and investigator. In this book a former friend of Jude's is murdered after a local book talk and Jude is the prime suspect. 

This book squarely fits into the cozy mystery genre and as such is no great work of writing but it was perfectly enjoyable for what it is. One of the nice things is that even though it is book 18 in a series I did not feel that I needed to have read any of the previous books in order to read this one.

If you are looking for a quick read that is not overly predictable give this one a go.

The Liar in the Library is a village mystery with a plot that relies heavily on the conventions of Golden Age mysteries like those written by Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. It’s the 18th book in Simon Brett’s Fethering Mysteries—the first being The Body on the Beach, published in 2000.

Showing a keen sense of irony from the start, Brett’s English seaside town of Fethering is fictional, but it’s “not far from Tarring” in the South Downs. The Body on the Beach introduced next-door neighbors and partners in detection Carole Seddon and Jude Nicholls. On the surface, they don’t have much in common: Carole’s a sensible, insular, retired civil servant, while Jude works as a healer (after “having had a portfolio of careers including model, actress, and restauranteur”).

Yet the chalk and cheese somehow blended. And perhaps the strongest bond between Carole and Judith was their mutual passion for solving crimes.

Successful author Burton St Clair is lecturing and signing books at the Fethering Library. Twenty years ago, Jude knew him as “Al (short for Albert) Sinclair.” At the time, he was married to his first wife, Megan, and living in shabby-genteel Morden on the outskirts of London. Jude remembers Burton as a habitual philanderer, but “Jude was by nature a generous woman and prepared to take at face value that evening’s assertion that Burton had found emotional stability with his new wife.” If that were true, Jude thinks, “she wouldn’t have to face the tedious necessity of deterring his wandering hands.”

Jude is impressed, despite herself, by St Clair’s “fluent” presentation, even though many of his anecdotes are familiar.

He certainly held the literary ladies of Fethering in the palm of his hand. They had already been predisposed towards him. Probably every one of them had read his breakthrough novel, Stray Leaves in Autumn, whose paperback cover was so prominently displayed on the screen behind him. Why that book had caught the zeitgeist in the way it had, nobody could tell.

Jude has a theory about why it is a success, “It was because Stray Leaves in Autumn was, at its most basic, an old-fashioned romance.” And a “rather mawkish” romance at that. Things get interesting when it’s time for questions. An ill-assorted cast of characters peppers St Clair with inquiries, not all of which are pertinent or polite.

A gentleman who speaks with “the ease of having been to the right schools and university” zeroes in on St Clair’s somewhat disparaging comments about crime fiction and, specifically, crime writers. He quotes St Clair’s words back to him, “… when you said you were not in the business ‘as a crime writer might be—of killing people simply for the convenience of my plots’.”

“And I stand by that. Though plot is significant in any kind of story-telling, in literary fiction it does not have the primacy that it does in crime fiction.”

 

“Are you talking here about Golden Age crime fiction or more contemporary stuff?”

 

“Does it make much difference?” asked Burton St Clair loftily.

 

“Oh, so you’re saying all crime fiction is an inferior genre?”

 

“I’m not saying ‘inferior’,” said Burton, though he clearly was.

The two men do not agree to disagree. Although St Clair is anxious to leave crime fiction behind, a woman enters the fray. She’s “inordinately tall and expensively dressed” and speaks with “the relaxed refinement of an East Coast American intellectual.” And wouldn’t you know, she’s an expert on the Golden Age of classic mysteries.

The questions mercifully end, and the crowd heads to the drinks table. Librarian Di Thompson finally shuts down the festivities. She’s exhausted, and the bad weather outside matches her mood. Poor Jude has a half-mile walk home in the driving rain. St Clair offers to give her a lift in his new “Beamer.” She tells him she’ll provide directions.

“With you, Jude, I don’t need any directions.”

 

His left arm was suddenly around her shoulders. His right had found its way under the jacket to her breasts.

The handsy leopard hasn’t changed his spots after all. One “stinging slap to Burton’s cheek” later and Jude makes her sodden way home to Woodside Cottage. She doesn’t sleep well, so she welcomes a coffee visit from Carole the next morning. They are interrupted by a ringing doorbell.

“Good morning,” said the woman. “Are you Jude Nicholls?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I’m Detective Inspector Rollins, and this is Detective Sergeant Knight. We would like to talk to you about the death of Burton St Clair.”

Everyone knows the last person to see a murder victim is the killer—well, at least a prime suspect. A conceit of the Golden Age of crime fiction is that the writer gathers all the suspects in one spot—a country house, a church service, and in this case, a literary evening—and the investigation focuses on them. Carole and Jude diligently track down who in the audience at the library evening is connected to Burton St Clair.

They stop at the Crown & Anchor, Fethering’s local watering hole, where landlord Ted Crisp says that “everyone had their own view of what had happened.” In fact, an American woman told him that “this kind of murder is almost always domestic, and it always starts with the husband having an affair.” The professorial American provides Crisp with the acronyms HKW and WKM (Husband Kills Wife and Wife Kills Mistress). Carole tartly notes that, in this case, “It’s the husband who got killed.”

Jude gets a call from Oliver Parsons, the erudite man who questioned St Clair on his disdain for crime fiction. They join heads to puzzle out who killed St Clair. Parsons is wistful for the days when amateur detectives like Lord Peter Wimsey had a pipeline to the police.

“Oh, if only we were back in the Golden Age—Lord Peter Wimsey is lacking a vital forensic detail and Inspector Parker, tugging his metaphorical forelock, immediately shares with him the findings of the police post-mortem. Don’t get that kind of co-operation now. Police no longer know their place. They are even … ‘he chuckled as he framed the witticism’… getting ideas above their station.” 

Jude winced. “Ooh, that’s dreadful.”

The Liar in the Library is a puzzle, but Simon Brett plays fair. All the pieces are right in front of the reader. After you finish, you’ll be tempted to pick up a classic from the Golden Age.

Liked the cozy mystery aspect.  Something about small-town murders (especially in England!) has always appealed to me. Also enjoyed the somewhat droll comments by Jude.  I'll be looking for more in this series now that I've discovered it.

Thanks to Mr. Brett, Canongate Books and Netgalley.com for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Simon Brett has written a fun "cozy mystery" with "The Liar in the Library." I was not familiar with either the author not this series, of which this story is the 18th!  The protagonists, Nude and Carole, make a fun investigative team.  I like the humor gently interlaced with the plot.  If folks enjoy the " cozy mystery " genre one could do far worse than " The Liar in the Library. ". I thank Net Galley for providing me with the chance to try a new author (at least New to me) at no charge.

A library book talk is an opportunity for Jude to catch up with Burton St. Claire ex husband of a friend that she had fell out of contact with.  When he comes on to her and she leaves him in his car she becomes the last person to see him alive and the prime suspect in his murder.  Hoping to clear her name she and her friend Carol take up the investigation.  A great story that allows the real small town atmosphere of the setting to flourish.  Departures along the lines and tracing the crooked course of the investigation Jude and Carol are on board to follow where the investigation leads them.